Two regional hotels have been sold with combined asking prices for close to €10m.

The Metropole Hotel in central Cork had been on the market for €4m as part of the Project Crystal portfolio, while Fels Point Hotel in Tralee had been seeking €4m as well.

Fels Point was purchased by the parents of 2011 Washington DC Rose, Dorothy Henggeler, who died last year. She is buried in Killarney, where her mother Eibhlin is from.

Her father Dick Henggeler runs a computer consulting firm, which has several US government contracts.

The deal will allow the Rose of Tralee Company to control the hotel which has been home to the competition for nearly a decade.

It also brings a step closer the construction of a permanent Rose of Tralee Dome on a site adjacent to the hotel.

Fels Point was opened in 2006 but was being sold by Nama.

Rose of Tralee executive chairman Anthony O'Shea commented: "The successful outcome of the purchase will strengthen the long-term development and viability of the Festival in Tralee.

It has long been an ambition of the all organisers of the 56-year Festival to build a permanent Dome and that goal will now be achieved.

"We can now unlock the full potential of the Festival and put plans in place to develop a permanent entertainment and conference centre on the site adjacent to Fels Point Hotel," he said.

CBRE's John Hughes, who managed the sale, said the hotel "generated keen interest from national and international buyers and confirms the level of demand for well- located provincial hotels in Ireland"

The four star hotel was developed from new to a very high standard in 2006, said CBRE. It now comprises 165 air conditioned and spacious bedrooms, extensive conference and banqueting facilities, restaurant, bar, leisure centre and spa with secure surface and underground parking.

The sale of Fels Point comes at the same time as the Metropole Hotel in Cork City changes hands.

The hotel, which dates from 1897, was bought by UK hotelier Philip Hotel Holdings. Terms of the sale were not disclosed but it is believed the hotel cost around €5m.

The three star hotel dates from 1897. The original building on MacCurtain Street is a protected structure, with a red brick facade and additional stonework.

A further bedroom block was added in the 1960's and the leisure centre at the rear was added in the 1990's as part of a major renovation of the entire hotel.